Point of View

The novel is written in the third person. The narrator is reliable and knows all the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters. The novel is also largely dialogue-driven, the spoken word being very important to the story. The narrator also describes the scenery and gives opinions on it.

Setting

The novel takes places primarily in Havana, Cuba. The time is just before the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, the novel was also written before these events. This means it is before the American embargo and the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960's. At this time there is still plenty of contact between America and Cuba and characters are frequently traveling between Havana and Miami. However, the undertone of the rocky political situation is alluded to. Captain Segura has money stashed away in case he needs to escape to America at the advent of a...